Ubuntu Manpage: batcat - a cat(1) clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.

NAME

       batcat - a cat(1) clone with syntax highlighting and Git integration.

USAGE

       batcat [OPTIONS] [FILE]...

       batcat cache [CACHE-OPTIONS] [--build|--clear]

DESCRIPTION

       batcat  prints  the  syntax-highlighted  content  of a collection of FILEs to the terminal. If no FILE is
       specified, or when FILE is '-', it reads from standard input.

       batcat supports a large number of programming and markup languages.  It also communicates with git(1)  to
       show  modifications with respect to the git index.  batcat automatically pipes its output through a pager
       (by default: less).

       Whenever the output of batcat goes to a non-interactive terminal, i.e. when  the  output  is  piped  into
       another  process  or  into  a  file, batcat will act as a drop-in replacement for cat(1) and fall back to
       printing the plain file contents.

OPTIONS

General remarks: Command-line options like '-l'/'--language' that take values can be specified as either
'--language value', '--language=value', '-l value' or '-lvalue'.

-A, --show-all

Show non-printable characters like space, tab or newline. Use '--tabs' to control the width of the
tab-placeholders.

--nonprintable-notation <notation>

Specify how to display non-printable characters when using --show-all.

Possible values:

caret Use character sequences like ^G, ^J, ^@, .. to identify non-printable characters

unicode
Use special Unicode code points to identify non-printable characters

-p, --plain

Only show plain style, no decorations. This is an alias for '--style=plain'. When '-p' is used
twice ('-pp'), it also disables automatic paging (alias for '--style=plain --paging=never').

-l, --language <language>

Explicitly set the language for syntax highlighting. The language can be specified as a name (like
'C++' or 'LaTeX') or possible file extension (like 'cpp', 'hpp' or 'md'). Use '--list-languages'
to show all supported language names and file extensions.

-H, --highlight-line <N:M>...

Highlight the specified line ranges with a different background color. For example:

--highlight-line 40
highlights line 40

--highlight-line 30:40
highlights lines 30 to 40

--highlight-line :40
highlights lines 1 to 40

--highlight-line 40:
highlights lines 40 to the end of the file

--highlight-line 30:+10
highlights lines 30 to 40

--file-name <name>...

Specify the name to display for a file. Useful when piping data to batcat from STDIN when batcat
does not otherwise know the filename. Note that the provided file name is also used for syntax
detection.

-d, --diff

Only show lines that have been added/removed/modified with respect to the Git index. Use
'--diff-context=N' to control how much context you want to see.

--diff-context <N>...

Include N lines of context around added/removed/modified lines when using '--diff'.

--tabs <T>

Set the tab width to T spaces. Use a width of 0 to pass tabs through directly

--wrap <mode>

Specify the text-wrapping mode (*auto*, never, character). The '--terminal-width' option can be
used in addition to control the output width.

-S, --chop-long-lines

Truncate all lines longer than screen width. Alias for '--wrap=never'.

--terminal-width <width>

Explicitly set the width of the terminal instead of determining it automatically. If prefixed with
'+' or '-', the value will be treated as an offset to the actual terminal width. See also:
'--wrap'.

-n, --number

Only show line numbers, no other decorations. This is an alias for '--style=numbers'

--color <when>

Specify when to use colored output. The automatic mode only enables colors if an interactive
terminal is detected. Possible values: *auto*, never, always.

--italic-text <when>

Specify when to use ANSI sequences for italic text in the output. Possible values: always,
*never*.

--decorations <when>

Specify when to use the decorations that have been specified via '--style'. The automatic mode
only enables decorations if an interactive terminal is detected. Possible values: *auto*, never,
always.

-f, --force-colorization

Alias for '--decorations=always --color=always'. This is useful if the output of batcat is piped
to another program, but you want to keep the colorization/decorations.

--paging <when>

Specify when to use the pager. To disable the pager, use '--paging=never' or its alias, -P. To
disable the pager permanently, set BAT_PAGER to an empty string. To control which pager is used,
see the '--pager' option. Possible values: *auto*, never, always.

--pager <command>

Determine which pager is used. This option will override the PAGER and BAT_PAGER environment
variables. The default pager is 'less'. To control when the pager is used, see the '--paging'
option. Example: '--pager "less -RF"'.

Note: By default, if the pager is set to 'less' (and no command-line options are specified), 'bat'
will pass the following command line options to the pager: '-R'/'--RAW-CONTROL-CHARS',
'-F'/'--quit-if-one-screen' and '-X'/'--no-init'. The last option ('-X') is only used for 'less'
versions older than 530. The '-R' option is needed to interpret ANSI colors correctly. The second
option ('-F') instructs less to exit immediately if the output size is smaller than the vertical
size of the terminal. This is convenient for small files because you do not have to press 'q' to
quit the pager. The third option ('-X') is needed to fix a bug with the '--quit-if-one-screen'
feature in old versions of 'less'. Unfortunately, it also breaks mouse-wheel support in 'less'. If
you want to enable mouse-wheel scrolling on older versions of 'less', you can pass just '-R' (as
in the example above, this will disable the quit-if-one-screen feature). For less 530 or newer, it
should work out of the box.

-m, --map-syntax <glob-pattern:syntax-name>...

Map a glob pattern to an existing syntax name. The glob pattern is matched on the full path and
the filename. For example, to highlight *.build files with the Python syntax, use -m
'*.build:Python'. To highlight files named '.myignore' with the Git Ignore syntax, use -m
'.myignore:Git Ignore'. Note that the right-hand side is the *name* of the syntax, not a file
extension.

--ignored-suffix <ignored-suffix>

Ignore extension. For example: 'bat --ignored-suffix ".dev" my_file.json.dev' will use JSON
syntax, and ignore '.dev'

--theme <theme>

Set the theme for syntax highlighting. Use --list-themes to see all available themes. To set a
default theme, add the --theme="..." option to the configuration file or export the BAT_THEME
environment variable (e.g.: export BAT_THEME="...").

Special values:

auto (default)
Picks a dark or light theme depending on the terminal's colors. Use --theme-light and
--theme-dark to customize the selected theme.

auto:always
Variation of auto where where the terminal's colors are detected even when the output is
redirected.

auto:system (macOS only)
Variation of auto where the color scheme is detected from the system-wide preference
instead.

dark Use the dark theme specified by --theme-dark.

light Use the light theme specified by --theme-light.

--theme-dark <theme>

Sets the theme name for syntax highlighting used when the terminal uses a dark background. To set
a default theme, add the --theme-dark="..." option to the configuration file or export the
BAT_THEME_DARK environment variable (e.g. export BAT_THEME_DARK="..."). This option only has an
effect when --theme option is set to auto or dark.

--theme-light <theme>

Sets the theme name for syntax highlighting used when the terminal uses a dark background. To set
a default theme, add the --theme-dark="..." option to the configuration file or export the
BAT_THEME_LIGHT environment variable (e.g. export BAT_THEME_LIGHT="..."). This option only has an
effect when --theme option is set to auto or light.

--list-themes

Display a list of supported themes for syntax highlighting.

-s, --squeeze-blank

Squeeze consecutive empty lines into a single empty line.

--squeeze-limit <squeeze-limit>

Set the maximum number of consecutive empty lines to be printed.

--style <style-components>

Configure which elements (line numbers, file headers, grid borders, Git modifications, ..) to
display in addition to the file contents. The argument is a comma-separated list of components to
display (e.g. 'numbers,changes,grid') or a pre-defined style ('full'). To set a default style,
add the '--style=".."' option to the configuration file or export the BAT_STYLE environment
variable (e.g.: export BAT_STYLE=".."). Possible values: *default*, full, auto, plain, changes,
header, header-filename, header-filesize, grid, rule, numbers, snip.

-r, --line-range <N:M>...

Only print the specified range of lines for each file. For example:

--line-range 30:40
prints lines 30 to 40

--line-range :40
prints lines 1 to 40

--line-range 40:
prints lines 40 to the end of the file

--line-range 30:+10
prints lines 30 to 40

-L, --list-languages

Display a list of supported languages for syntax highlighting.

-u, --unbuffered

This option exists for POSIX-compliance reasons ('u' is for 'unbuffered'). The output is always
unbuffered - this option is simply ignored.

--no-custom-assets

Do not load custom assets.

--config-dir

Show bat's configuration directory.

--cache-dir

Show bat's cache directory.

--diagnostic

Show diagnostic information for bug reports.

--acknowledgements

Show acknowledgements.

--set-terminal-title

Sets terminal title to filenames when using a pager.

-h, --help

Print this help message.

-V, --version

Show version information.

POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS


       <FILE>...

              Files  to  print  and  concatenate.  Use  a dash ('-') or no argument at all to read from standard
              input.

SUBCOMMANDS


       cache - Modify the syntax-definition and theme cache.

FILES

       batcat can also be customized with a configuration file. The location of the file is  dependent  on  your
       operating system. To get the default path for your system, call:

       batcat --config-file

       Alternatively,  you  can  use  the  BAT_CONFIG_PATH environment variable to point batcat to a non-default
       location of the configuration file.

       To generate a default configuration file, call:

       batcat --generate-config-file

       These are related options:

       --config-file

              Show path to the configuration file.

       --generate-config-file

              Generates a default configuration file.

       --no-config

              Do not use the configuration file.

ADDING CUSTOM LANGUAGES

       batcat supports Sublime Text .sublime-syntax language files, and can  be  customized  to  add  additional
       languages  to  your  local  installation. To do this, add the .sublime-syntax language files to `$(batcat
       --config-dir)/syntaxes` and run `batcat cache --build`.

       Example:

            mkdir -p "$(batcat --config-dir)/syntaxes"
            cd "$(batcat --config-dir)/syntaxes"

            # Put new '.sublime-syntax' language definition files
            # in this folder (or its subdirectories), for example:
            git clone https://github.com/tellnobody1/sublime-purescript-syntax

            # And then build the cache.
            batcat cache --build

       Once the cache is built, the new language will be visible in `batcat --list-languages`.
       If you ever want to remove the custom languages, you can clear the cache with `batcat cache --clear`.

ADDING CUSTOM THEMES

       Similarly to custom languages, batcat supports Sublime Text .tmTheme themes.  These can be  installed  to
       `$(batcat --config-dir)/themes`, and are added to the cache with `batcat cache --build`.

INPUT PREPROCESSOR

       Much  like  less(1)  does, batcat supports input preprocessors via the LESSOPEN and LESSCLOSE environment
       variables.  In addition, batcat attempts to be as compatible with less's preprocessor  implementation  as
       possible.

       To use the preprocessor, call:

       batcat --lessopen

       Alternatively,  the  preprocessor  may  be  enabled  by  default by adding the '--lessopen' option to the
       configuration file.

       To temporarily disable the preprocessor if it is enabled by default, call:

       batcat --no-lessopen

       These are related options:

       --lessopen

              Enable the $LESSOPEN preprocessor.

       --no-lessopen

              Disable the $LESSOPEN preprocessor if enabled (overrides --lessopen)

       For more information, see the "INPUT PREPROCESSOR" section of less(1).

MORE INFORMATION

       For more information and up-to-date documentation, visit the batcat repo:
       https://github.com/sharkdp/bat

                                                                                                       BATCAT(1)